You are right coping last night. I had to leave and head to my youngest sons house. 2012 when we won the championship we did a home ncaa pool and my youngest son won the pool. The prize was a new puppy. That puppy was a boxador (boxer / Lab mix). He passed last night. I had to get to Lexington and get him over to the cremation place to freeze him. My son was devastated.
As far as UK. Not coping one bit. What i have down in this thread I mean. I do not listen to others and watch tape of games on all the guys we have so far. I think with Pope coaching they will do really well (better than what most are thinking). I think we did not need Lanier (have said it about 100 times already). I did not like Lanier or his game that much. Not coping. I wanted Davis and Ark got him. No sour grapes, i look forward to beating Ark with Davis and Butler shutting him down. I wanted Big Z to stay (thought the fit was good, not great), I wanted Adou but alas. I could go on but no need.
I am staying positive. I hated the Cal years, stopped taking my kids to UK basketball events like I did with other coaches. I have dreaded each season (minus the Davis season because I like Lamb and Jones coming back).
I am happy as a puppy with 2 peters now that we have Mark Pope. I think it works out great. If it fails it fails. But at least we had someone that loved Lexington, KY and UK, the people and the history of what he is representing.
I was never, ever a big get this freshman to put us over the top guy. That started changing with Mashburn, he really helped KENTUCKY basketball as a true freshman. I still believe in the model of athletics of getting top (not all 5 star players), developing and winning with a mix of older and younger guys. Think it is the best and if you look over the long haul that is the best model. With Pope we can get there. With the portal we can get there quicker. Maybe not 24-25 but 25-26 is possible.